Margaret Contreras
Editor-in-Chief
The first note rang at the start of the Halloween Choral Concert at 7 p.m. on Oct. 26 in the Morgan Auditorium. The choir, solos and chamber singers performed to a full house, some guests had to stand alongside the walls.
The concert was filled with spooky seasonal music from the Broadway musical “Beetlejuice,” Harry Potter, Disney and Taylor Swift.
The first song to kick off the concert was “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” by Stephen Sondheim, arranged by Andy Beck. Quickly followed by “In Noctem” by Steven Kloves and Nicholas Hooper, arranged by Andy Beck, from “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” both performed by the University’s Chamber Singers.
Before proceeding with the solo performances, Clarissa Shan, director of choral activities and vocal studies welcomed the audience to the show.
“Good evening everyone,” Shan said. “Thank you so much for taking your time out of the weekend to come and join us for the Halloween concert…I hope you enjoy this evening of spooky music.”
There were five solo performances before intermission. With the choral performing a song before the final three. The first two solo songs were from Disney princess movies.
The solo performance started with “Friends on the Other Side” by Randy Newman from Disney’s “The Princess and Frog.” It was sung by chorale bass Oscar Calderon.
Following Calderon, soprano chamber singer Kathryn Broadwater sang “Poor Unfortunate Soul” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”
The University’s Chorale appeared on stage to perform a song from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner for Azkaban,” “Double Trouble” by John Williams arranged by Teena Chinn.
“It was a little nerve wracking,” Sarah Sandoval, sophomore biology major and University of La Verne chorale alto, said. “Overall it was a lot of fun.”
After the performance Shan discussed the opportunities to donate to the program to help fund the students’ trip to Germany and yearly activities.
The last three solo performances before intermission were chamber singer alto Rania Kartouch, chorale singer bass Kevin Ortega and chamber singer Adriana Procida. Kartouch played the piano while she sang Taylor Swift’s “No Body, No Crime.”
“Music of the Night” from “The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart was performed by Ortega. Then Procida sang “Dead Mom” by Eddie Perfect from “Beetlejuice.”
Intermission was about 20 minutes. During that time there was a costume contest, the contestants were lined up in front of the stage. The winner of the contest was the Oz family.
“We’ve been doing family costumes since we had,” Brittany Allison, costume winner and mom, said. “We do a family costume every year based on what we are most into that year and we’ve really been into ‘Wicked’.”
Families and guests were then invited to purchase snacks and beverages outside the auditorium for $2 to $3.
The first performance coming out of intermission was the University chorale. They sang “Dies Irae” by Ryan Main and then Marvel’s “Agatha All Along,” “The Ballad of the Witches Road” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, arranged by Roger Emerson.
Following the choir were two more solos with chamber singer alto Alina Stannard and chamber singer alto Angelina Alvarez. Then one group performance with chamber singer alto Emily Freeman, chamber singer alto Lauren Sandoval and chamber singer soprano Destiny Tenor.
Stannard performed from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” tune “Sally’s Song” by Danny Elfman, followed with “Home” from “Beetlejuice” by Eddie Perfect, sung by Alvarez.
Freeman, Sandoval and Trenor performed “I Put a Spell On You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and arranged by Jacob Narverud. The song was featuring in Disney’s “Hocus Pocus.”
The final two performances were done by the University’s Chamber Singers. The first song was the title song “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Danny Elfman and arranged by Alan Billingsley.
Soloists were bass Peter Gutierrez, soprano Kathryn Broadwater, tenor Matthew Marquez, bass Jericole Syrus and bass Logan Soberanis.
The final song of the night was Micheal Jackson’s “Thriller” by Rod Temperton and arranged by Mark Brymer. The soloists were tenor Mario Aguayo, bass Logan Soberanis, soprano Destiny Tenor and tenor Alexandria Miller. With Alexander Gomez on bass guitar and Logan Cruz on drums.
“Today was a fun night,” Fabian Freyre, tenor chamber singer and junior studio art major, said. “I felt sad that it ended really quick, it was overall a good experience.”
Margaret Contreras can be reached at margaret.contreras@laverne.edu.
Magaret Contreras is a senior communications major with a concentration in public relations. She is editorial director and LV Life editor of the Campus Times and previously worked as editor-in-chief and a staff writer.
Mia Byington is a senior photography major with a minor in marketing. She is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine.
